Getting back to healthy as back-to-school season begins? Here are some ways to refresh your routine this fall and a spotlight on the Wellness Recipes by Blue Apron. This post is sponsored by Blue Apron.
Refresh Your Routine For Fall
Back To School Routines
Most of us have fond memories about the back to school season. After a long, casual summer break, usually full of ice cream and travel, I really look forward to restarting a routine! I think even more than on New Year’s Day, September has a really refreshing feel to it – humidity fades, cooking at home becomes the regular, and everyone gets back to healthy a bit more than during the summer.
Here are a few routines I am excited to resume:
Walking to school
After spending up to 2 hours in the car going to and from summer camps, I cannot wait to walk to school again! Mazen’s school is about a mile away, and Birch’s is a 10-minute walk, so if I walk them both there and back I cover 4 miles on foot.
Little Mazen in 2019!
Fall Sports
Co-Rec soccer for Thomas and me, and a new sport for Mazen! He is starting in Little League baseball this fall! He’s super pumped to play, and we’re excited to watch him do something new. Birch is a wee bit too young for soccer this fall, but we play lots of sports in our front yard to make up for it : )
I wish I could add “re-joining the gym” to the list. But alas that is not in the cards quite yet.
Family Dinnertime
Summer is SO casual around here. So sometimes we let the kids eat at the pool or we’re traveling and ate dinner out. I’m excited to bring family dinnertime back (and hopefully introduce a new setting the table chore for you-know-who!). We used to go around the table and say the highlight of each of our days – a routine that was lost in summer casual. Let’s bring it back!
Back in January I wrote a blog post about the just-launched Wellness Recipes. The Wellness Recipes are back-to-healthy better with a few additional upgrades: they are now available in 4-person servings, with more options each week, and with some customization opportunities to tailor to your eating style. You can mix and match Signature Recipes with Wellness Recipes to your menu each week, or you can make your entire menu Wellness – the choice is up to you.
The Wellness Recipes feature nutritionally-dense superfoods and superstar ingredients with a focus on complex carbohydrates, fiber, and antioxidants. They also have lighter ingredients (think Greek yogurt instead of crème fraiche). They honestly feel like something I would create from scratch in my own kitchen (I mean that in a really good way!).
Add Wellness Recipes to your meal plan and get $120 off across your first 5 boxes! (The best offer they’ve had all year.)
Here are the three recipes we made:
- Spanish-Spiced Salmon & Veggie Quinoa with Almond-Date Topping
- Shawarma-Spiced Vegetable & Couscous Bowls with Arugula and Roasted Lemon Yogurt
- Grilled Pork Chops & Calabrian Mayo with Salsa Verde and Zucchini
Spanish Salmon with Vegetable Quinoa
We loved this recipe for its sweet – savory blend of flavors. From the Spanish Spice Blend to the chopped date and almond topping, it was full of flavor. I absolutely loved the seasoned yogurt on the bottom of the plate (what a creative presentation suggestion).
Full of Real Food
Quinoa, zucchini, carrots, Greek yogurt, salmon, roasted red peppers, garlic, dates, and lemon = a real food win!!
Tips From My Kitchen
I much prefer pressed or grated garlic on a microplane to chopped. And if you microwave dates for a few seconds first, it is much easier to remove the pits and chop them!
Dinner is served
Carla says
Doesn’t look like they’re available in 4-person servings quite yet, sadly!
How did you feel about the volume of food included in these? We did the signature meals a little bit ago but just felt like the portions were kind of skimpy for the price. I loved the convenience of not having to meal plan, but really only getting 3.5 portions out of our 4 portions and also the calorie-heavy meals pushed me away. I typically find that “healthy” meal plans essentially give you less food for the same price and that annoys me!
Kath Younger says
Oh shoot – they should be any day!
We have never found that the portions disappoint and we usually get 4 meals easily out of one recipe. I will say that the night we cook our portions are probably 60% and on the nights we have leftovers they are probably 40% but that is our own doing and is still enough food for us both. There have also been times we’ve left food on our plate! I do agree that the wellness recipes are a little less filling, but that is probably directly related to their lighter ingredients. Less fat / less calories = less satiety.
Kathryn says
Congratulations on 14 YEARS of blogging! You keep getting better and better !
K~
Kath Younger says
Aw thank you!
Kristina says
Hi, the wellness recipes sound great, but truly my biggest hesitation about these subscriptions is the amount of non-recyclable waste the shipping creates. Can you give an objective assessment about how you would rate the carbon footprint??
Kath Younger says
I think we can all agree that walking to the farmer’s market is the absolute best thing we can do for our footprint. But if we compare the grocery store and a meal kit, I think it’s kind of a wash. Grocery stores come with packaging too – you just don’t see it – and the food comes on trucks that travel a lot of miles. You also have to drive there and back. While the meal kits also travel, they would say there is less waste at the end and most of their packaging IS recyclable (maybe not as much in a conventional grocery store) so I’ve kind of come to the conclusion that they’re about equal. I’m actually doing a review /comparison post of a few boxes and saw this stat on Hello Fresh that sort of matches what my thoughts are:
A study by the University of Michigan concluded that HelloFresh meal kits have a 25% lower carbon footprint than store-bought groceries.
Lucia says
How do the kids like these meals? My son is Mazens age (June bday) and while he’ll eat lots of what we do, he’s not into spicy or super adventurous about spices. I’m looking to get back to a meal kit for convenience and ease during a busy school/soccer/homework rush before bedtime and would love healthier lighter meals after an indulgent summer but last time we tried Blue Apron I felt like kiddo wasn’t into it. Thanks!
Kath Younger says
I deconstruct them a lot to make them more simple for them: leave off the finishing sauce or keep ingredients that get all mixed together apart. So salmon + rice + a veg on the side (sometimes replaced with simple spinach leaves) rather than a salmon and rice bowl with veggies mixed into the rice and a spicy sauce on top.